Circumstance
by RedSharkBait
Summary: Members of Voyager's crew from an alternate universe use borrowed alien technology to escape from the Hirogen, with unexpected results. AU pairings, but it's mostly a general crew fic. Rated T to be safe, but nothing worse than any episode of Voyager.
1. Prologue A Night Void Of Starlight

_Author's Note: This is my first Voyager fanfic, please let me know what you think. No need to be gentle with your criticism. :D_

_-RedSharkBait  
_

In a night void of starlight, the hunt was exhilarating, excitement coursing through the blood of hunters even as their ship dulled the sensation of acceleration, pulses pounding with the sure confidence of a hunt that could end only in success.

The smaller ship banked to dodge its pursuers, a swift but expected tactic that merely served to delay the inevitable as the larger ship launched another barrage powerful enough to cripple a ship three times the size of their quarry. The small ship was even more agile than it appeared, executing a peculiar rolling maneuver to avoid the energy discharge, followed by a rapid change to a course perpendicular to that of the hunters, who adjusted accordingly and fired once more, this time with less power, testing the defenses of their prey. The ship's shielding was negligible and even a low intensity shot did a lot of damage.

The hunters could not help but admire the determined audacity of their prey as the pursuit dragged on, admiration turning to confusion as the ship known as the Flyer by its passengers seemed to accelerate far faster than it should have been able to in its crippled state. A strange glow emanated from the Flyer as the ship angled itself upward in respect to its former course and moved backwards over the top of the hunter's ship rapidly. The glow increased in intensity and the ship seemed to explode in a blaze of green and purple light.


	2. Familiarity

A ship appeared on Voyager's sensors without warning, prompting the surprise Tuvok had come to expect from Ensign Kim. While the Ensign's exuberance was somewhat unwarranted, the sensor readings were most intriguing.

"Captain, I have detected a ship…" Tuvok began, but was overshadowed by Kim's enthusiasm.

"It came out of nowhere, Captain, and it's moving quickly."

"Can you identify?" Captain Janeway questioned.

"Not immediately, Captain. The ship appears to be enveloped in an intense energy field, however, the field appears to be dissipating."

"We should be able to scan through the field in approximately three minutes, Captain…but the ship will be in visual range far sooner…it's in range now." Kim again interrupted.

"Onscreen."

Surprise now came from more than just Ensign Kim. The ship on the viewscreen was familiar, yet strangely different.

"It's the Delta Flyer!" Lieutenant Paris exclaimed.

"But the Flyer's still on board." Kim replied.

"Indeed." Tuvok agreed.

"Hail…the…Flyer." Janeway said hesitantly.

"No response, Captain." Tuvok said. "However, the energy field has dissipated enough to confirm that it is indeed the Delta Flyer…which is highly illogical." The data was clear, and yet it could not be. "This is very perplexing, Captain."

"It's different, Captain." Kim noted. "It's identified as the Delta Flyer, it looks like the Delta Flyer, but the internal configuration is different, and some of the technology is not Starfleet."

"And it has dynametric tailfins." Paris added nonchalantly.

"Curious indeed..." Tuvok noted again, at once internally chiding himself for the redundancy of his statement. "…I am detecting seven lifesigns – three…four Human, one Vulcan, one Betazoid and one Ocampan." The Captain and Commander Chakotay shared a look of confusion at Tuvok's statement, a confusion shared by Tuvok, though he kept it under strict control.

"What's their status, Tuvok?" Chakotay asked.

"Holding position at four hundred kilometers. Their systems appear to be functioning normally, and all but one of the lifesigns are stable."

"Hail them again, Commander."

"Frequency open, Captain."

"Captain Janeway to the Delta Flyer. Please respond."

The surprise, confusion, and surrealism of the situation was already considerable, but only became more intense when Voyager's hail was responded and the viewscreen was filled with a familiar face.

"Hello, Captain. Might we request your assistance?" Tom Paris asked.

The look on Lieutenant Paris' face – the Paris onboard Voyager – would have been described by some humans as 'priceless.' The Vulcan description was a good deal less frivolous.


	3. Failsafe

_Author's Note: Due to the demands of my adoring fans, this chapter is a bit longer than the last few. Thanks for the reviews and interest, keep it coming!_

_-RedSharkBait_

Tom's pulse pounded in his skull. _I hate Hirogen_, he thought bitterly, banking the Flyer rapidly once more, forcing a near-miss. _Gotta catch me before you can gut me…_

"Where are our weapons, Vorik?" He demanded.

"Completely offline with no possibility of repair."

"That's nice, do the Hirogen know that?"

"Negative, masking field still functioning."

"Outstanding." Tom entered another command as he glanced towards the back of the Flyer. "How's Seven, Kes?"

"Not good!" The Ocampan nurse said concernedly. "Her nanoprobes are still attacking her immune system and they're not slowing down anymore!" The former drone was doing an admirable job of fighting the pain, but a brief glance at her contorted, tear-stained face told Tom it was a losing battle. "I need help, Tom!" Kes said as she scanned Seven with a tricorder.

"I'm a little busy, Kes! Vorik, you should help her."

"I am not a medical expert, Ensign. I can pilot the ship, however."

"Not as well as I can!" Tom snapped, wishing the other pilot on board wasn't catatonic.

"B'Elanna, what is the status of the influx drive?" Vorik enquired while the Flyer shook with weapons fire.

"It certainly can't take another hit like that!" B'Elanna shouted from the extreme rear of the Flyer.

"Two minutes is all we need." Harry, ever the optimist, tempered B'Elanna's outburst.

"Take the controls, Vorik!" Tom made a fast decision, practically leaping from his chair and almost tripping over a motionless Betazoid.

"What are we doing?" Tom asked as he grabbed Seven's hand and let her squeeze with all her considerable strength.

"A low-energy disruption pulse to temporarily shut down her nanoprobes, take this and hold her still." She passed him a cortical stimulator control and helped Seven sit up as Tom released her hand and put an arm around her shoulders. Kes unzipped the back of Seven's catsuit halfway down her patient's back, placing two cortical stimulators directly on the other woman's spine. "Activate them as soon as I inject this, Tom." Kes instructed, the ship lurching once more as she grabbed a hypospray.. "Seven, this will hurt _a lot_. Now, Tom."

Tom did as instructed when Kes pressed the hypospray against Seven's spine. Seven screamed out loud, her back arched, and she squeezed Tom even harder.

Meanwhile, B'Elanna made one final adjustment and rushed to the front of the Flyer, slamming her hand down on a modified engineering console and activating the newly repaired Influx Drive.

"Turn them off!" Kes shouted over Seven's scream and Tom obeyed, sighing with relief when the woman in his arms relaxed and stopped screaming.

An arc of electricity erupted from Kim's console and struck him full in the chest as a strange glow enveloped the Flyer and its crew felt the strange sensation of being pulled through the fabric of space.

*******

"Their ship has exploded!" a particularly emotional Epsilon shouted.

"What?" the Alpha demanded. "I told you to cripple the ship, not destroy it!"

"Wait a moment, Alpha." His Beta interjected. "I detect no fragments, only something similar to an ion trail. They have fled."

"How? I have never seen such a means of transportation."

"It matters not. I believe we can track the radiation trail."

"Pursue the scent, Ikroth. I will _not_ be denied my relics!"

*******

"The influx drive creates a rift in subspace somewhat similar to a stable wormhole, however, the rift is not permanent and collapses as soon as the ship reaches its destination. Certain instabilities in the rift sometimes result in…adding another dimension to the vessel's path, in this case, crossing the barrier between parallel universes."

"You knew of this flaw and still used this so-called 'influx drive'?" Tuvok inquired, eyebrow raised in typical Vulcan skepticism.

"How would you like to be gutted?" Tom snapped. He hadn't thought it possible, but this Tuvok was even more annoying than the one he knew.

"We used the drive only as a last resort." Vorik said. "Parallel universes are not always as…hospitable as this one."

"You have crossed into others?" Tuvok asked.

"Once before. We were captured by the Hirogen soon after returning to our own universe."

"It was good to be home." Tom muttered darkly. "The Hirogen were actually a bit of a relief."

"What exactly did you encounter?"

"You don't want to know." Tom said, hoping Tuvok didn't press the issue. His fears were allayed when two half-Klingon engineers and an Ocampan nurse walked into the shuttlebay.

"How are they?" Tom asked Kes. She shook her head slightly and told him quietly.

"Harry only suffered electrical burns, he'll be fine. Seven's being kept in a containment field for now and Stadi's still catatonic…I don't know what to do, but maybe their Doctor can help."

"I'm sure he can."

"Vorik, your hand is still bleeding!" B'Elanna said suddenly and touched the Vulcan's arm. Tom no longer had to wonder which B'Elanna was which.

"Convincing Commander Tuvok of the veracity of our claims is more important than my physical well-being at the moment." Vorik replied dryly.

"The Captain wants to see the two of you now, actually." The other B'Elanna spoke now. "And she wants you to submit to genetic scans, so you should go to Sickbay anyways."

"She already had the rest of us scanned." Kes said.

"Let's take a look." The other B'Elanna said to her counterpart, and the two moved towards the Flyer.

"Don't get in any trouble, Vorik." B'Elanna said over her shoulder, prompting a strange look from the other B'Elanna and from Tuvok.

Tom smirked and followed Kes out of the shuttlebay. _She's gonna be surprised,_ _isn't she?_

Kes glanced at him, the slightest hint of a smirk on her face as well.


	4. Strange Reflections

_Author's Note: Oh, boy. I'm sure you've all forgotten about this story by now, but here's the next installment. Sorry it took so long, folks, I'd like to promise the next one will come sooner but…well, you know me. __ We'll see…_

_Thanks for all the reviews and subscriptions, I do appreciate the support._

_Enjoy!_

In this strange reflection of reality, most of her friends' counterparts were not quite the same. Tuvok was harsher, a little more skeptical, a little more reserved – although the rest probably hadn't noticed. Tom was more relaxed and quite obviously pining after B'Elanna – who, strangely enough, seemed to return his feelings to some degree. Harry was Harry, but a little shy. She hadn't seen Seven yet, but the Doctor was a little more…_real_ than the other – obvious even though he had no mind to read. Chakotay was soft spoken, less sarcastic, and, quite oddly, the First Officer.

Captain Janeway, however, was much the same as her counterpart. At least, it seemed so to Stadi during the few seconds she was conscious in the Captain's presence. Something had pulled the Betazoid back to reality for a brief minute or so, during which Stadi was overwhelmed with the feeling of strange, albeit familiar minds. Thoughts and emotions swirled around her before her eyes snapped open and she was fully conscious, instantly aware she wasn't where she belonged.

"She's awake." The 'other' Kes said at the same time Tom noticed and ran towards her, ignoring the Doctor's attempts to scan him.

"Stadi!" He shouted, and she didn't know why, and then she felt pain, horrible pain, and then there was nothing again.

Stadi had started calling his name a moment after he entered the room, like she was afraid for him and wanted to warn him of something. She'd leapt off the biobed and ran towards him, collapsing into him and sobbing until she passed out. Whatever it was that was inside her and Seven, Tom knew they couldn't leave this reality until it was gone.

At the moment, Stadi was unconscious, isolated in a biobed. The Doctor and the Kes from this reality were hovering around her, scanning her and making small noises of dissatisfaction and confusion, while on the other side of Sickbay 'his' Kes and the other Seven similarly hovered around 'his' Seven. The small amount of medical expertise he did have may have gotten his two friends this far, but it wasn't of any use at the moment. They were in expert hands now, and he could only hope for the best.

"Are you alright?" his _t'hy'la_ asked. "How's your hand?"

Vorik looked B'Elanna in the eye and desperately fought the urge to smile consolingly at her. There were times when he allowed himself to relinquish some control over his emotions in her presence, but to do so now would not benefit the situation. Right now, he could feel that 'one thing would lead to another', as the human saying went, if he were to allow his control to slip at all.

"I am fine, B'Elanna." He said calmly. "And you?" He stepped closer to her as he inquired to her well-being, already aware she would probably lie.

"I'm…alright. For the moment." She stepped even closer, standing just inches away from him and slipping her soft, strong hand into his. The damage had been repaired, but the nerve endings in his palm were more sensitive than normal, which in turn meant telepathic contact was both easier and more intense. He closed his eyes and shivered slightly as his _ashayam_ lay her head on his chest, wrapping her _katra _around his and holding even tighter mentally than she was physically.

It took every ounce of his control not to burst into tears or kiss her. She released his hand to wrap her arms around his waist, but the bond stayed just as strong as it had been a moment ago. She was pushing his control to it's very limits, but he did not reprimand her, only gently put his hands on her shoulders and let her hold on until she had calmed down.

She pulled back first, and Vorik kept his hands on her shoulders as she looked up with tears in her deep brown eyes. "Thanks, Vorik. I needed that."

"I know." He told her, raising a hand to brush a stray lock of hair from her ridged forehead before ever so gently resting two fingers on her lips, the closest equivalent to a kiss a Vulcan in full control would ever come.

"We will make it back, B'Elanna." Vorik said, hoping it was consoling.

She smirked at that, and kissed his finger before turning away. "I know, Vorik, I know. We're both too stubborn not too."

"Are you ready to speak to Captain Janeway?"

"Yes, I am. Are you?"

He nodded and stepped towards the door.


End file.
